DAILY- HOMILY

June 26, 2007
Tuesday 12th Week in Ordinary Time - Year I

GENESIS 13:2, 5-18
Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. Now
Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and
tents. But the land could not support them while they stayed together,
for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay
together. And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the
herdsmen of Lot. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the
land at that time. So Abram said to Lot, "Let's not have any
quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for
we are brothers. Is not the whole land before you? Let's part company.
If you go to the left, I'll go to the right; if you go to the right,
I'll go to the left." Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of
the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the
land of Egypt, toward Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom
and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan
and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: Abram lived
in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain
and pitched his tents near Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked and
were sinning greatly against the LORD. The LORD said to Abram after
Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and
look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will
give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring
like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust,
then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and
breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you." So Abram moved his
tents and went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where
he built an altar to the LORD.

MATTHEW 7:6, 12-14
"Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If
you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear
you to pieces. So in everything, do to others what you would have them
do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. "Enter through
the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads
to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and
narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

REFLECTION
Jesus says the gate that leads to damnation is wide, the road is
clear, and many choose to travel it. But how narrow is the gate that
leads to life, how rough the road, and how few there are who find it.
In effect Jesus is saying, "Do you know what sin is? Sin is missing
the mark." That is what the Greek verb for sin, hamartano, means: to
be off target, be a poor shot, to miss the goal.

A sinner is a poor marksman. He keeps missing the target. To make a
field goal on the soccer or football field, you have to aim for the
straight and narrow, that limited space between the goal posts. You
must hit that narrow space to score a goal. You may kick anywhere else
on the field, even into the bleachers, to miss it.

A sinner is a poor scorer. He keeps missing the goal - that target
which Jesus calls "the narrow gate." And with missing the goal, sin
brings about fear, guilt, depression. They should not be part of a
normal, healthy Christian life. God sent his Son Jesus to us, to
restore for us the power of hitting the target, of aiming successfully
towards the goal, of finding what life really means. Only God is
perfect love. He could trust only his Son to be right on target, to
restore that normal love to our lives.

God the Son, the One whom we can trust, took all our evils, all our
bad marksmanship on his own shoulders, died to them on the cross,
buried these evils in the grave, and rose to new life, the victorious
new life that He now holds out to us. Let us ask the Lord to teach us
to watch and pray with him through pain and trials until we share one
day in his eternal reward.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray ...
.. for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
.. for the healing and speedy recovery of:
- Dodo
- Ely
- Fr. John Weyer
.. for peace and healing of Abbie
.. for the personal intentions and guidance of:
- Chibu and Trinna
- Gailey
- Maria Fatima and Jose Rigor
.. for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Wedding Anniversary: Eric & Eunice Roxas
.. for world peace and reconciliation.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our
prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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